Even though arguably the most decorated active cyclo-cross competitor, Sven Nys, eventually managed to break a draught and win his first event this season after several near-misses, it’s 19-year old Mathieu van der Poel who leads in the Superprestige standings. The young Dutchman admitted that he looked up to the 38-year old Belgian for a long time, but names and palmares do not matter much when it comes to a tough fight in a rain, mud and sand.

“I always looked up to Sven Nys, now I ride against him and even beat him sometimes. That’s crazy, yes,” van der Poel told Helden Online. “ During the race I’m not doing this, then it’s just about beating other competitors [without special recognition of their achievements].”

Last cyclo-cross seasons were mostly dominated by a Belgian duo of Nys and retired Niels Albert, but this year youngsters took reins from the very beginning with van der Poel, van der Haar and van Aerts all triumphing in elite events. The former admitted that he got along well with his older compatriot.

“Lars van der Haar and I stick together, the two youngsters. He is very open, I can get along with him. Out of competition we do not really keep in touch, but it’s cool that we behave as colleagues. It’s difficult to become good friends, though, as we compete against each other.”

Van der Poel also claimed to be surprised with a progress he made at the age of only 19 and believes that there’s still a big room for improvement left.

“I wonder how big progress I will be able to make. I’m so young, there’s still a room for a lot of improvement. I still lack power, my physical abilities cannot be currently compared with those of adult men. The best of me is yet to come,” the 19-year old Dutchman concluded.